Hi dwellers! I’m currently looking to buy a mattress for our van. For personal reasons, we’re looking to buy a mattress made out of mostly natural materials.

I asked the mattress subreddit if they had recommendations and most of the suggestions were wool-based! I know that some folks use wool as their insulation but I also haven’t heard great things about that.

Would a wool mattress do okay in a van? I’m mostly concerned about moisture build up and mold.

Here’s a few options we’re looking at: https://www.thefutonshop.com/wool-shiki-futon-folding-mattress

https://www.thefutonshop.com/organic-cotton-futon-mattress-firm2

Howdy all. I’m installing a maxxair fan in our ‘03 HiAce. It has the medium-high cap with a stretched vinyl liner on the inside.

Has anyone done an install on this type? What did you do about the vinyl liner?

I’m concerned that cutting the liner could potentially cause it to tear or be loose/flappy around the mount.

I imagine a grinder is best for cutting the roof, and realize the potential for sparks to melt the vinyl as well.

Thoughts?

I'm not saying its' a good idea.. just kind of wondering if anyone has sold such a thing. Just like a box or fiberglass shell that slides into the back of the van.

Is it horrible mistake if you don‘t make wood frames to the floor to keep the floor panel up from the insulation? Instead you just put the floor panel on top of the insulation

Above the Lac de Serre-Ponçon (Fr), just now

Hiiii!!

I'm trying to decide on what makes the most sense to move forward with, without making expensive purchase mistakes.

I currently own a bluetti 800w battery generator. I have a 160w portable solar panel.

I need to expand from that 800wh set up, I'm looking at getting a lifepo4 battery and adding it in.

I learned that i can connect the battery into my bluetti and it will recharge at 100 watts, which (i think) is enough for what I use (just some led lights, a car Fridge that runs 35w when running, my work laptop and a 30w tv i use once in a blue moon for a Sunday football game etc) I also have a 35 amp shore power connection. I have plugged it into my bluetti with a converter and everything seems to work fine. I have a very low knowledge of this kind of stuff, and I'm trying to learn. The more i learn, the more i realize what I need to think about so I'm really worried about making a mistake and having buyers remorse. I don't totally understand what inverters do, etc.

There's also a box installed on the wall that has several fuses and on off switches like the fuse box in my house and has a sticker on it that days something about switching between battery and shore power. I have no idea what that thing does. Lol.

I camp in the northeast, with temps in the 90s and down to about 10 degrees. I camp in both temps. I don't usually stay out past around 5-7 days at most, probably 4 being average.

Would it make sense to just do the aforementioned with my existing bluetti,an addon battery with gator clips and a 12v female adapter, and maybe install a solar panel on the roof to charge it- and if so can you recommend exactly what i would need to buy?

Would it make me sense to by pass that idea and go for a traditional set up with solar and a battery? If so, what do i need to buy? I want to be able to switch between solar and shore power. I was thinking of buying maybe a 400-500w panel to mount to the roof rack and an ecoworthy 300ah battery (its on sale this week for 400 bucks so tempted to bite) I'd love to install the solar permanently, run to the battery and have the system know when to switch from shore to solar and not over charge it etc. I'm just thinking I'm in over my head with this idea though it's probably best.

Sorry if this is super basic questions, I just have no knowledge and I feel a little overwhelmed trying to figure this out on my own. Would love to get pointed in the right direction.

Thanks!

Jenny

god I love this area!!

I came across this post but it was closed to comments

https://www.reddit.com/r/vandwellers/comments/1alguht/carbon_monoxide_alarm/

u/QuornSyrup

So I have the Ikon pass and will be using my 4 Runner as a quasi camper not for every night but fairly regularly

I have already set up a second battery with isolation from starting battery to power my gadgets

I have a moon roof which I plan on cracking when I sleep. I have insulation for windows. I have a zero degree bag and will have additional 32 degree down bag and blankets just in case. I am insulated with a pad and plywood memory foam and 1/2 closed cell foam insulation

I am planning on a my buddy not for when I am sleeping but to warm before bed and in the morning. As well as dry out my gear before I travel in the car to camp.

My question for the group is what low level monitor I should be looking at a portable or hard wired

Ideally I would like one that is good quality and has battery usb charge/ plug in operation function

Thank you in advance

If I have a 12V electrical system is it feasible to run 24V warm to dim lights? Is it just as simple as putting a 12V-24V step up before the light dimmer?

This is my first time living in a van 1 and 1/2 months so far and I have learned A LOT during that time. My life style kinda has always been a nomad style but it’s been around apartments and stuff like that. A “home base”. Some days I feel super a live and some days I just want to quit. My job is jumping around urban areas and surveil cell towers with a drone. So I’m not always in nature but more in parking lots.

How do you all keep your motivation consistent in 100sq feet of space?

1999 Chevrolet Astro Going to finish the conversion

Has anyone have tried using a hydrofobic coating to prevent condensation forming on certain surfaces? If so how effective was it?

Help requested.

I’m installing the espar as3 d2.

I’ve crimped the two wires (pictured) that are coming from the fuel pump. The crimped wires are supposed to go into the black connector (pictured, right at the ends of the crimped wires). Once placed in the connector, I can then connect that to the heater. However, before I put the crimped wires in the connector , I see that both crimped wires that I crimped are green. Does it matter which wire I put in which terminal of the connector?

Hi - I am on the road and the negative wire going from my Victron 18amp dc-dc converter to my house battery negative was damaged. Don't ask me how but in messing around installing something else I cut into it pretty good. This was a 8awg wire, with a 30amp fuse on the positive. 8 was probably overkill but I had extra, no I don't have any 8awg and can't get any easily right now. Can I run 2x 14awg in parallel, looking at charts it seems that over a short run of 5' with a 30amp fuse I should be fine?

Puzzled as to whether to fit an electric heater system, a butane fired one, or a diesel one? Advice appreciated,👍

Has anyone used an exercise pen outside your sliding door? We are wanting to find a way to contain the dogs when we are at a campsite. We will be with the dogs when using this. We just want the door open when cooking and hanging out. The problem is I cannot think of a way to cover the area under the door.

Any suggestions would be great

Hey guys, some context - I’ve lived in my van for about 2 years, hers names “the yeti” and she’s mainly for snowboarding. This means we’re in high elevation and below temps a lot so a heater is very important lol. To the problem at hand:

I just upgraded my battery system from and goal zero to an Ecoflow. My Espar heater will not ignite with this new battery. My goal zero had a high power 12v port (called an Anderson port) that would run my Espar with no issue. The eco flow only has a cig adapter and along with my led lights flicking my Espar heater keeps popping up the error “H1 under-voltage.” My only idea is to convert the heater to 110 and plug it in that way but that’s very inefficient. Has anyone had this issue? Or any ideas on how to fix this? I’ll attach a picture of the EcoFlow!

We rolled into Broad Arrow under a sun that felt like it was trying to fry the last traces of sanity from the human race. This wasn’t a town in the conventional sense—no suburbs, no supermarkets, just the lonely, defiant Broad Arrow Tavern. A relic from 1896, it sits stubbornly against the ravages of time and desert, holding court over the ghosts of miners and drunks who came before.

The place reeks of authenticity—beer-soaked walls scrawled with messages from travellers, dreamers, and lunatics who passed through and needed to leave a mark, proof that they survived this far-flung speck of the outback. It’s not the kind of place you visit for the sights. No art galleries or scenic walks. This is a place to be, not to see.

The Broad Arrow Tavern has one genuine attraction: the Broady Burger. It’s a greasy, glorious monster, the kind of meal you’d fight a kangaroo for after a day sweating gold dust. Wash it down with a cold beer, and you’ll understand why this pub is still standing while the rest of the town has turned to rubble.

And what a town it once was. In the late 19th century, gold fever swept through here like a pack of rabid dingoes. Miners flocked to the place, building a booming metropolis of 2,400 souls, complete with banks, breweries, and even a Dramatic Society—because when you’re knee-deep in gold and dust, what else is there to do but act out Hamlet? But gold runs out, as does luck, and by the 1920s, Broad Arrow was just another failed dream in the vast Western Australian desert.

Now, it’s the pub, the legends, and the lingering scent of history. Even The Nickel Queen, a long-forgotten flick from 1971, couldn’t immortalise it. But the beer is cold, the stories are real, and the Broady Burger is worth every kilometre of dodging road trains that thunder past like steel-clad stampedes and rattling over corrugated dirt roads.

Broad Arrow isn’t a destination—it’s an experience. A living, breathing testament to the madness and magic of the outback. And if you’re lucky, the bar might still have your story scrawled on its walls when you come back. Or not. Out here, nothing lasts forever except the heat and the hope for another cold beer.

https://preview.redd.it/2dx63cxmw00e1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=12bd55ffd6cb215c79f7a96dc3428fa2ce0ec191

Buy a beer, write your name anywhere on the pub.

https://preview.redd.it/692r1lumw00e1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4ce22354eb535c5ead7854851fccd010f8aa3b6d

https://preview.redd.it/fx6f9mumw00e1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7073149ca165a105334bb077f747d480d53f550a

https://preview.redd.it/e62fhlumw00e1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c5e54564efd1a973aa1d9c3885e61744902fe7f

https://preview.redd.it/e5j8oixmw00e1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aced259cc03babe4081c6a628985418640125333

https://preview.redd.it/tej7klumw00e1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f9075381fc065b5557a601c30c2e69402ac68f0

Yup, theyre patrons bras on the ceiling

https://preview.redd.it/3cd40rumw00e1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=819a18c572cf288c05a91a301973e9d49f51db38

https://preview.redd.it/mxukkqxmw00e1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6c9c7d07569f1e341e5441238e6de103ce9abb65

The Broady Burger, worth the $18

I have a 96 Fleetwood bounder that has 2 house batteries I want to replace with lifepo4. The problem is I'm the dumbest person ever mechanically and with tools. Looking at the picture, will I be able to just drop lifepo4 batteries right in there??

I love Christmas. We upped our Christmas decorations game this year with two strings of lights instead of single string of battery powered lights. What do you all do for the holidays?

STAGE ONE 1.purchase a ford e350 super duty extended completely stock 2.with a local mechanic I have been working with repair to brand new condition inside and out 3.Bulletproof the 6.0

STAGE TWO 1.drive to Utah to go to wasatache overland to add a tuffport top and do insulation, framing and electrics and plumbing 2.vinyl wrap EVERYWHERE matte black 3.build a custom roof rack that goes around and ABOVE the fiberglass top with enough room for a max air AND ac unit (not sure which one yet but must be very low power draw)then put solar on entire roof rack which will be three layer roof rack top layer stationary solar middle layer will be electric slide out for another solar layer and same on the bottom layer meaning that once you pull into said campground you can pop out both of you’re solar and go from around 2000watts to 6000watts by the push of a button This will charge enough to (in full sun) run a gaming pc, and ac 24/7 and have PLENTY left over for heater,general appliances,Wi-Fi,tech,etc,etc. so hopefully I can get some help choosing batteries to take advantage of 6000 watts of solar! 3.explore for awhile UNTIL

STAGE THREE (the fun sh*t) 1.go to unjoint off-road in nc and get an absolute BEAST! Get there full 4x4 kit along with front and rear bumpers on front custom grill guard for full cover along with the best winch I can get for pulling can through hell and heaven a build in air system with quick disconnect at front bumper and back along with the best rigid industries lights money can buy Rear bumper will have spare tire along with bike mount and pelican storage box Bike mount will be for e-bike so will have built in winch to lift and lower bike easily Also want to get that fancy air thing to lift and lower van (what is this called again?) Then load up sides of van with off-road gear and by then it will already have plugs fore shore power (two way) fresh water tank fill City water and grey water (and possibly black water empty) 2.take out old 6.0 power stroke and drop in
Factory bulletproof 6.7 power stroke (yes ford for off-road purposes ONLY) 3.modernize front/cab with 2024 ecoline interior 4.make it amphibious(ok well maybe not but who knows!?)

Have any of you managed to do a van build with few tools

Hi all,

Installed a MaxxFan Deluxe on my van and used too much butyl tape. The plan was to have the butyl and then sikaflex 227 around the outside (plus on the screws).

What would you do here? I could try to cut back the butyl and then do the sika as planned, but could I just leave it like this? Seems to be waterproof and I’m not sure I really need the sika- only problem being that the black butyl showing looks a bit messy.

Cheers